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The Powers Of Ten

October 17, 2010

In case you missed it last week (when this short doc was celebrated on 10/10/10) check out The Powers Of Ten movie below. Even though it was made in 1968 by Charles and Ray Eames it is still very much up-to-date and is still as powerful as it was 40 years ago. …It reminds me greatly of Carl Sagan‘s Pale Blue Dot… Synopsis: Powers of Ten takes us on an adventure in magnitudes. Starting at a picnic by the lakeside in Chicago, this famous film transports us to the outer edges of the universe. Every ten seconds we view the starting point from ten times farther out until our own galaxy is visible only a s a speck of light among many others. Returning to Earth with breathtaking speed, we move inward- into the hand of the sleeping picnicker- with [...]

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Douglas Rushkoff: Program or Be Programmed

October 1, 2010

In a recent blog post I asked: Does Technology Make Us Smart or Stupid? At least part of my motivation for asking the question was a result of watching a thought provoking must-see PBS Frontline documentary by Douglas Rushkoff called Digital Nation, which examined many of the pros and cons of the internet and modern technology. In the video below Douglas Rushkoff goes a step further and argues that within the current technological paradigm one either programs or is being programmed. While Rushkoff’s argument and its implications are much broader in scope and more sophisticated in meaning than merely referring to computer code, it reminds me strongly of the classic cult sci fi movie Tron. In Tron there are “programs” and “users.” Since the users wrote (i.e. programmed) the code for the programs, in Tron the users are Gods. The [...]

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Deus Ex’ Stunning Trailer for Human Revolution

September 18, 2010
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Last Friday I posted a 2009 TED presentation by Juan Enriquez called Homo Evolutis is the Ultimate Reboot. The videos below are 2 trailers for the new Deus Ex: Human Revolution video game. While none of the clips was a part of Juan’s presentation I thought that they could have been a stunning visual representation of at least one scenario of what The Ultimate Reboot may turn out to look like. You may say that this is nothing more but a fictitious trailer for a violent sci fi video game but, more-or-less, this is what others have said about their contemporary science fiction (such as Jules Verne). In time, what was crazy science fiction once has often become reality later. So, what do you think? What are the odds of those clips becoming reality? Will technology replace biology? Related articles [...]

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The Perils of Voice Recognition Technology

September 17, 2010

This is a hilarious 3min Scottish video about the perils of voice recognition technology. After watching it I just couldn’t stop laughing so I had to re-post it. While it is dangerously funny it does raise some good questions about the cultural biases of voice recognition in particular and technology in general. Technology is rarely neutral. It is a mirror that reflects its maker and our Human, Oh So Human species. As such it is loaded with most of our best and worst stereotypical presumptions, personal inclinations and cultural biases. The only question is: After the technological singularity, will the Artificial Intelligence voice recognition technology finally speak Scottish? Related articles by Zemanta Hamlet at the Technological Event Horizon: the Transhumanist Dilemma (singularityblog.singularitysymposium.com) Charlie Kam: the Very Model of a Singularitarian (singularityblog.singularitysymposium.com)

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Top 3 Robot Music Videos

September 14, 2010

Are we being replaced? Becoming obsolete? Machines have been replacing humans in all kinds of manual labor activities at least since the industrial revolution began. Yet, more and more intelligent machines are competing and winning against humans at what were previously thought to be activities supposedly within the clearly and exclusively human domain. It all started with repetitive-motion labor, such as the one replicated by the first wool-weaving machines. Then it moved on to simple calculations and, eventually, complex ones such as chess. Recently, attempts have demonstrated that even teaching, jeopardy or playing and composing music are not safe. Check out the robot music videos below. While the robotic performances are clearly rather crude, somewhat amateurishly homemade and not quite virtuoso yet, do you really think that playing music is really that different from playing chess or jeopardy? How long [...]

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To Age Or Not To Age Trailer

September 13, 2010

Last time I posted on Robert Kane Pappas‘ latest documentary titled To Age Or Not To Age was in February — right before the movie premiere. Now, you can watch the trailer below, check for screenings near you or buy the DVD here. Watch the movie and let me know what you think but most of all tell me: Do you want to live forever? Related articles by Zemanta Movie Review | ‘To Age or Not to Age’: Robert Kane Pappas’s Documentary (nytimes.com)

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Hawking, Sagan and Clarke on God, The Universe And Everything Else

September 11, 2010

As you know usually I try to leave you with something interesting for the weekend. Today I found this classic video of 3 of the best scientific minds of the 20th century - Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, Arthur C. Clarke, discussing God, the Universe and everything else. I enjoyed it immensely and was surprised to find out that Stephen Hawking and his jokes were almost as funny as Douglas Adams in his On Parrots The Universe And Everything… Hope you like it as much as I did. Enjoy!

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Intelligent Textiles Of The Future

September 9, 2010

The future is smart. Smart clothes, even smart underwear, produced with intelligent textiles that are enhanced with the latest nanotechnology will likely be as commonplace as their dumb relatives are today. Textiles that moisten the skin, absorb perspiration, measure your heartbeat and breathing, that are both soft to the touch, bulletproof and water resistant… Those are the kinds of textiles that European researchers are working on as evident by the following Futuris video. Related articles by Zemanta The Future is Smart, But What About Us? (singularityblog.singularitysymposium.com) Smart Underwear (singularityblog.singularitysymposium.com)

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